Magical Fallout
Overcharge is what happens when your mage experiences a sudden unexpected, or sometimes forced burst in their magic. You can keep track of overcharge in "points" or simply give yourself a rough estimate of how much you took. In order to get rid of Overcharge, Mages will have to suffer fallout. Unfortunately, Fallout is simply what happens when you use magic. You will eventually take overcharge, and you will eventually have to suffer Fallout.. You can voluntarily take fallout during free scenes, but if you take 6 or more points of Overcharge in any one attribute you must resolve your fallout either right away, or right after the current battle ends. Depending on the amount of overcharge "points" you take, you'll experience one of the following stages. Again, if you would prefer, you can simply figure out what would be appropriate for your character and take the necessary fallout. *1 You can remove 1 Overcharge at the end of a scene. *2+ Distortion *4+ Flare *6+ Change *8+ Burst The effects of fallout depend on the attribute the Overcharge points were attached to and the number of points you’re removing. You always have to take a type of fallout worth at least the same number of points as you have to get rid of; you can’t take multiple instances of a less troublesome type of fallout. Distortion (Up to 3 Overcharge) Low-level Fallout causes a magical girl or reality around her to become distorted Magic: Reality Distortions The excess magic you've accumulated leaks out into the world, making things around you become strange and unsettling. A distortion that removes up to 2 point of Overcharge causes something unusual but plausible to happen. The weather changes very abruptly, all the cats in the area converge in one spot, objects keep falling in unlikely ways, birds’ magnetic sense is thrown off in the area, etc. A distortion that removes 3 points of Overcharge causes something impossible to happen, but something that people can dismiss as imagined. Falling objects can hover or change direction, a door doesn't quite deliver you to the right place, unnatural weather, an animal starts walking through walls, a person flickers in an out of existence for a little while, etc. Heart: Tainted Affection The stress of what you’ve experienced makes you latch onto people around you in a way that’s a bit unsettling. Choose someone you have a relationship with and do one of the following. If you do not have a relationship with another character you must take a flare instead. You can remove up to 2 Overcharge points with a moderate display of intimacy to someone, such as a lingering hug, blurting out personal stuff about yourself, abruptly inviting someone on a date, etc. You can remove up to 3 Overcharge points with a more extreme display of intimacy to someone, such as kissing someone out of nowhere. Fury: Outburst You have a sudden, violent outburst that you can’t really explain. The more points you’re removing, the more harm it does to people around you. You can remove up to 2 Overcharge points by doing some property damage or having a minor violent outburst against someone. You can remove up to 3 Overcharge points by having a major violent outburst that substantially hurts someone you have a relationship with. If you do not have a relationship with another character you must take a flare instead. Flare (Up to 5 Overcharge) A “Flare” is a more powerful instance of Fallout. Each time a magical girl gets a Flare result, roll a die on the table below. *1 Severe Distortion (magic), Breakdown (heart), Angry Aura (fury) *2-3 Elemental Flare (magic), Infatuation(heart), Rampage (fury) *4-5 Temporary Change (Self) *6 Temporary Change (Other) Severe Distortion (Magic 1) Your magical power creates a severe distortion in the fabric of reality. Something unmistakably magical is happening, and people nearby cannot dismiss it as being their imagination at all. Elemental Flare (Magic 2-3) The power of your magical element goes out of control in a dramatic way. What happens will heavily depend on what exactly your element is, but for a physical element this will typically make large manifestations of that element, or cause nearby instances of that substance or force to go totally out of control. If your element is stone it could conjure a giant, hideous obelisk, or make the sidewalks ripple and dance. If your element is fire it might turn small fires into conflagrations or make fire magically rain down from the sky. Breakdown (Heart 1) When the emotional strain of everything you’ve been through becomes too much, you could have a breakdown and stop being able to properly function. You can remove up to 4 points with a moderate breakdown. For the next scene or two you can barely contain yourself and keep bursting into tears or having panic attacks. While this is in effect you take a –2 penalty to any challenges. You can remove up to 5 points with a major breakdown. For the next scene you’re all but catatonic unless your own safety is very directly threatened, and for one or two scenes after that you’ll be weepy or have panic attacks. While this is in effect you take a –3 penalty to any challenges. Infatuation (Heart 2-3) Your use of magic based on forming bonds with others causes you form an unnatural attachment to someone. You fall in love with another character you have a relationship with, and you fall hard, forming a troubling obsession. You must do whatever you can to be near them at all times, and try to both protect them and become intimate with them. This lasts until the end of the episode or until you have another Infatuation fallout come up. If you don’t have any relationships, you lose 1d6 Resolve and have a Breakdown Fallout (see above) instead. Angry Aura (Fury 1) The accumulated rage-tainted magical energy in you exerts its influence on people and other beings in the area. A slight spark—or nothing at all—makes people and perhaps animals become consumed by anger and aggression. A brawl can break out, and a brawl can lead to a riot. People are going to get hurt. Rampage (Fury 2-3) The power of the rage you've channeled goes completely out of control, temporarily turning you into a crazed berserker. For a full scene, you attack anyone and anything that gets in your way. You cannot use your Heart attribute, but you get a +2 bonus to your Results for Challenges made in battle. You can damage property, hurt people, fight witches, familiars, etc, but you must do violence as much as you possibly can for an entire scene. Temporary Change (Any 4-6) A Flare can produce a temporary Change; see below for more details on how Changes work. A temporary Change lasts for an hour or two of in-game time, though they don’t necessarily have to take effect right away. If you get a change to yourself, you’ll have to live with the change for a little while.A change that affects someone else will afflict someone you have a relationship with. This should be someone with whom you have a relationship. If you don’t have any relationships, you take a permanent Change to yourself instead. If a Change that specifies something based off of a magical girl trait gets put on a normal person, that part of it is based on the mage that the Fallout originated from. Change (Up to seven overcharge) See the page on Changes Burst (8+) A “burst” is an excessively powerful form of Fallout, and seldom seen unless something has gone very wrong. Magic: Magical Burst The excess magical power you’ve accumulated turns into an explosion of raw power that annihilates anything and anyone nearby, excepting beings of considerable magical power. Everyone within the area of effect takes massive damage, and normal people are disintegrated without a trace. The size of the area affected depends on how many Overcharge points went into the Magical Burst, as follows: Overcharge Area Affected: *8 Size of a house *9 Size of a larger building *10 Size of a skyscraper *11 A city block *12 Several city blocks It is possible for someone to use magic to escape unscathed by using their own magic to escape the Magical Burst, but even then, those that can make it out are often injured. If you have a Magical Burst from and you do not have any relationships at all, you will transform into a witch. Heart: Heartspawn The intense magical power within you, although derived from warm human emotions, becomes intensely twisted, and breaks off into a witch. It is formed from your feelings towards someone you have a relationship with and will stalk and try to kill them. If you do not have any relationships when you get this kind of Fallout, your loneliness combined with the excessive magical power will turn you into a witch made of hatred, isolation, and resentment Fury: Rage Storm Your intense, rage-tainted magical energy explodes into a psychic maelstrom of hate and fury that fills the air with a baleful red glow. Everyone in the area (use the same table as Magical Burst to get the size of the area) will be overcome with violent urges. Magical girls can make a Heart or Magic challenge against a difficulty equal to two times the number of Overcharge points that went into this Fallout in order to resists its affects, but otherwise everyone must attack someone at random for a number of minutes equal to two times the amount of Overcharge points that went into this Fallout.